Spiritual Humanism

Recently, I've come across something called spiritual humanism and find it in some ways quite attractive, so I think that's where I'm going to start my blogging.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union propounds the following as a “minimum statement” for humanists everywhere.

"Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality."

It is clear that, on this view, ethics and not metaphysics are the key to humanist response. Indeed, the definition seems to affirm the right of each individual to develop their own metaphysical system, within the limits of a rejection of theism and supernaturalism.

Ethically, the position seems linked to humanitarianism and an emphasis on respect for human life and dignity on the grounds of rationality. This does not (as some have claimed) entail an acceptance of speciesism, in which humanity is regarded as being ethically more superior than other creatures. Rather, it posits that, as human beings are capable of rationalizing their pain, through feeling emotions such as anger and betrayal as a result of it, such pain causes cumulatively greater harm than if one (for instance) injured a pigeon. That is to say that, whilst it may be true to say that the pigeon feels pain, there is no evidence to suggest that pigeons rationalise in the same way that humans do. There may be other animals (such as dolphins, for instance) who are just as capable of these processes yet the essential point is that human life and dignity ought to be protected because of their clear ability to rationalise in this way.

So that explains the "humanist" aspect of things. The spiritual element, in as far as I can tell from my reading, comes from the combination of this ethical emphasis on personal fulfilment and self-determination with a form of naturalism; (not naturism, which is entirely different!) that is a form of spiritual wonder at the force of nature and the acceptance of being in "an unscripted drama" where the very impermanence of our human existence leads us to value it all the more. Naturalists claim that one must seek to face the realities of death, suffering and pain unflinchingly; as mere "facts of life", without any 'metaphysical comfort blanket' to help us. We are called to create meaning for ourselves, using our own capacities, in a world made all the more beautiful by our finite existence, seeking to live every moment 'as if it were the last'.